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Final Fantasy XIII-2 Launches In North America On January 31

You won't have to wait much longer for the next installment in the esteemed Final Fantasy franchise.

Square Enix has announced that Final Fantasy XIII-2 will launch in North America on January 31. The highly anticipated sequel is headed to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and it continues the story of Lightning and several of her companions, while offering all new environments and the top-notch production values from FFXIII.

By the way, FFXIII has shipped 6.2 million units worldwide and the franchise as a whole has now shipped over 100 million copies. That's a huge plateau and one for the books, regardless of how you currently feel about the series. Square Enix also sent along a brief prologue for FFXIII-2, which we have here for you:

She defied her destiny. She set out to vanquish the false gods enslaving mankind.

After the war, the world was no longer the same. Humans reigned victorious and their gods were no more. Their utopia fell from the sky and became one with Pulse, the underworld crawling with beasts and fiends. It marked the beginning of a new era.

However, she was nowhere to be seen. Everyone believed she was gone—with the exception of one, her sister, Serah.

Three years later—

A meteorite disrupts the serenity of a peaceful village. Time is distorted; bloodthirsty monsters are released within the confines of the secluded town.

Amidst the chaos, Serah is saved by a stranger who goes by the name of Noel. A hunter from the future, he bears an important message.

"She is waiting for you,” he says. “Come with me if you want to see her again.”

"She is Lightning—protector of the goddess who rules the realm of death and chaos, the one-and-only sister of Serah.

"I need to see her. I need to see my sister.”

Her heart brimming with hope, a determined Serah sets off on an adventure to reunite with her sister, her family, her world.

I think the big problm is that we as gamers are being force fed what these developers and publishers THINK we will like or what we want and some are making games to theyre liking and we the consumer who purchase these games are forgot. Think of it like this if square enix wanted to appeal to a different demographic other then the region most copies will sell they should adopt the option method...for instance...final fantasy XIII isnt final fantasy now if they wanted to appeal to the hardcore as well as new then a simple option of old school turnbase to new school combat which is that of what is only offered in XIII how hard would it have been for them to just give you the choice of toggling between dfferent game play styles...instead we are force fed what they THINK we want or what will work in the western market. Simple solutions makes you wonder doesnt it....

i'll give you my reason for being disappointed in the game, which i believe is most of the fans problem with the game. they promised us final fantasy and what we got is as far as a final fantasy game can get. i'm not saying the game was bad, as a game that carries final fantasy name it was a horrible final fantasy game. every final fantasy game i played and have i would play over again. final fantasy XIII however, once is more than enough.

johnld nailed it, it's not a game I enjoy playing, it's a very big blow to what I loved from the older Final Fantasy games. It just seems distant from the older games.

Others may enjoy it some may not, I'm in that crowd, more power to the people who do enjoy it though. Not everyone is going to like the same game so let's just make that clear, the whole game was just underwhelming for me, I just did not enjoy playing it, the production of the game is top notch though I just don't like the battle system and how if the party leader dies it's game over, it seems there isn't a lot of freedom within the game, it feels restricted.

No hard feelings or anything but it's just not for me.

I'm mostly waiting to see how Versus comes out and what's in it and how everything plays before I make a decision on getting Versus I have high hopes for that game. It might end up in disappointment for me or it may not, I'm hoping for a positive outcome.

Yeah I know why you all are hating ff13. Actually I was also pretty gutted with the game after my sky-high anticipation. But I think it is pretty harsh to judge the game if you only played till that Snow part *referring to Clamedeus*. You could at least played a bit more before putting your evaluation on the game.

Why would I play more of it if I'm not enjoying myself? I've seen my brother play through the whole game before he beat it, and there is nothing in it that actually warrants me to give it another shot. My evaluation was spot on, nothing in the game catches my eye and asks me to play more, I've seen enough of what I wanted to see and stopped playing it. It had it's chance but fell short.

I really liked FFXIII, but the disc broke on me about halfway through. It looks mint, but it cracked in the center. Square's kind of famous for low quality discs, but man. I might try this out when the price drops...and when I'm done with the Chrono series.

i wont call it sneaking, more like getting even. hell, i buy used games from blockbusters buy 1 get 1 sales and most of the time they dont come with manuals. so i buy it from gamestop, swap discs and take manual, return the disc from blockbuster to gamestop because it was a rental disc and a lot of people borrow it.

I would think that a game that shipped over 6 million copies might have a "highly anticipated" sequel. XIII might not have been the Final Fantasy game everyone was hoping for, but it doesn't change the fact that more than just a few people still enjoyed it.Last edited by Night_train80 on 9/19/2011 11:21:24 PM

I'm not saying it's not a great game Night (I personally didn't like what they did with it, but it's a good game), I'm just saying, I never heard one person, not one, saying, "Oh it'd be great if there was a FFXIII-2." They need to just finish Versus13 and start work on a FFXV while getting started on KH3.Last edited by LegendaryWolfeh on 9/19/2011 11:52:31 PM

Legend, I do agree with you there. I would much rather see Versus which has been MIA for way to long. And as for KH3, that one you'd find me in line for during a midnight release! I'm just saying once the game is announced, and even more so when an actual relase date is announced, then the anticipation can truely begin. There are definately games I'm more excited to see and would rather see, but you know what, I am looking forward to some more XIII as well.

I wonder how many of those 6million+ that bought the game were satisfied with their purchase. FFXIII is the first FF I haven't picked up and played after finishing. That says a lot about how I feel about the game. I think there is more genuine re-playability in GOW3.

All I am anticipating is whether I will have finished with WKC2 by then, or if I'll still be replaying Uncharted 3 on crushing mode.

@LV, to follow that sentiment, I have picked up WKC twice since finishing it originally, perhaps that says something about the game in reference to the replay value it has in comparison with the classic FFs?Last edited by TheHighlander on 9/20/2011 11:46:51 AM

the game sold 6 million because millions of final fantasy fans thought we were getting a final fantasy game. how much of those games were sold back right away? if i remember correctly, i read an article that JAPANESE gamers hated and sold their final fantasy 13 game and stock was piling up in japan.

I for one am pumped on this game. It's pretty much us giving Square a second chance for FFXIII. Don't get wrong I enjoyed the game, it just wasn't a solid FF title. I think Square has listened to the fans and will produce a quality FF with this one.

I really like the idea of the Historia Crux system. It will really make Radiant Historia...err I mean...Final Fantasy 13-2 more interesting by being able to travel in time and get things that you missed/see different possibilities. That's one thing that bothered me about FF13 was the inability to revisit areas (even though it's not like you had to anyways, it just felt restricted).

I also hear that there will be puzzles! The only gameplay 13 had going for it were battles. I can't wait to actually interact with the world I'm in and solve things! Battles are an integral part, but I need to be immersed a little more than that. This game will do that with both the puzzles and decision making system.

I think Square has listened to the fans, and will be giving us more than we asked for with this one. I will be praying to the FF Gods (my big boobed Tifa action figure) that this game turns out well.

I had planned to wait to buy this but I'll have a window of about 2 weeks where I'm free so I might just make it a day 1. I figure it will solve a lot of the problems even if we are stuck with that unfortunate battle system.

I'm glad the time travel stuff is explained too. I still can't hang with the Hammer pants though.

well, i just hope final fantasy X remake comes out before this so i'll have a proper final fantasy game for the year. i wont be buying final fantasy XIII-2 till its bargain bin or lower. i just have to see how the story goes, its my problem. i feel the same as mw3. i dont want to get it but i want to follow the story. but in modern warfare 3s case, i dont mind as much since theres not much of a story.Last edited by johnld on 9/20/2011 1:49:02 PM

i wouldnt be surprised if there were multiple endings given squares western approach this gen. if it did that then final fantasy is dead to me and wont buy one even at bargain bin prices, after 13 of course because i'll still play the squaresoft final fantasies.

With amount of content WKCII is offering I doubt I will be finished in time for this release. It's really a shame that XIII sold so well, it isn't a good FF game. WKC has given me far more RPG fun than XIII yet it was blasted by most reviewers. I don't see it changing with WKCII.

Thats why I think square should just change the name of these games they are making. It is not a good FF game but it is a good game in general. I would like the final fantasy franchise to die a dignified and noble death instead of being embarrassed by these recent instalments to the series.

now i need to move on to the second game. im at the sun king in wkc1 right now and did all errands and quests available, leveled up my knight, got to level 40 while killing EVERYTHING i came across, and got to guild rank 13. i think i'm close to 40 hours in the remastered white knight chronicles plus a lot more hours from the international edition but sadly i gave up on the trophies for that.Last edited by johnld on 9/20/2011 1:54:15 PM

Well, I moved my avatar over, but restarted with the story from the very beginning. I'm blasting through the WKC1 story elements, but no where near part two yet. The comment above was simply pointing out that WKC2 as a package is awesome-er, not because of the inclusion of WKC1, but because the game, graphics, skill system, etc are all improved, making a great game even better.

yeah, i imported my character and started from wkc1. now my avatar is wearing the doom armor set plus dragon knight head. i was using white knight head before but the doom plate is like a reddish color so i had to switch to dragon knight. i wonder if going through the remastered version on new game plus would get me more higher level armor again. i'll probably just start wkc2 though.

Is it just me, or does that description seem kind of... off? Well, everything after the three years later part. Cool to know that the localisation won't take long, and maybe it indicates that S-E thinks they're doing good here. Oh, I hope so.

Well, I'll be having a newborn in the house in about a months time, just before the November rush. And from what I've read and heard from friends and family, it seems like the 3-month mark after birth is when the kids gradually begin giving you your life back, piece by piece, over time.

So, I'm about 99% sure I will have the most insane backlog come February. This will likely be a long wait for me.

I'm really excited to be a dad, and all, but out of curiosity from the other dads on this site, how small, or non-existant, did your gaming time become after the birth of your first kid?

First of all, congratulations underdog ! Will this be your first? If so,wselcome to fatherhood. It's a good time.

And to shed some light on your question, at least a little bit, all kids will be different. But that goes without saying.

For the first little bit after my son got to come home from the hospitle, he would only sleep off and on for about an hour before waking up. But that's because he he was a hungry little baby, and would wake up hungry. That went on for a bit, and he gradually starting sleeping a little more each time. Then the when he was old enough we were able to put rice cereal in his milk with him so that would fill him up more than milk.

Id say for about the first couple months depending on how he slept, id average maybe 3- 4 hours of gaming in almost every night. Then he got his shots, and his sleeping habbits changed, starting going to bed a little earlier, and waking up a little less, but the hours still stayed the same.

It wasn't until around. 7 months that my son started sleeping from 630pm to 6am, and in between work, my son, and helping my gal keep our place clean id say I game about 4 or 5 nights a week from about 645pm to about 10 or 11 pm.

I would find this easier to consider if it was not pretending to be a final fantasy title. It reminds me of the way Star Trek franchises changed over the years and we had aberrations such as Enterprise and the Animated series, yet they retained the Star Trek name. In it's own right, Enterprise might have worked well - as a show, but it struggled under the expectations borne of several hundred hours of TV, nearly a dozen movies and decades of fandom. It really wasn't very good Star Trek, but it might have been a good show in it's own right.

That said, I definitely do not recommend a JJ Abrams reboot to get things going again...Last edited by TheHighlander on 9/20/2011 1:53:29 PM